Always Greener out to grass in Seven backflip

Another day, another disaster for Australian drama. Channel Seven announced yesterday that it would make no more episodes of Always Greener, despite declaring six weeks ago that it had commissioned a series for 2004.

And the latest ratings figures showed that Channel Ten's brave new drama Crash Burn is doing just that - its Monday audience in the mainland capitals dropped from 1.2 million viewers the first week to 893,000 the second, below the worst performance of the program it replaced, The Secret Life of Us.

The ratings also showed that the 30 most watched shows of last week included only two home-made dramas, McLeod's Daughters on Nine and Blue Heelers on Seven, compared with six American dramas and seven Australian lifestyle shows.

Seven was apologetic yesterday about its U-turn on Always Greener. Its director of programming and production, Tim Worner, said: "This is not a decision we have taken lightly and follows a careful analysis of our cost management and programming commitments for 2004. The cancellation of any Australian program is to be regretted, especially one that dared to be different, such as Always Greener. We're very proud of Always Greener but unfortunately, we sometimes have to make a prudent decision that means the end of an Australian series."

On July 6, Worner had announced the show's renewal, saying, "Always Greener is an important program for Seven". The show, starring John Howard and Ann Tenney, started in 2001 with record figures for an Australian drama on a Sunday - 2.06 million viewers in the mainland capitals. It was seen as the successor to SeaChange.

By June, the audience for the second season had shrunk to 1.2 million. At the same time, Seven's new boss, David Leckie, started selling himself as a ruthless cost-cutter.

Ten says it remains committed to Crash Burn (which is about the breakdown of a marriage, and was written by the creators of SeaChange, Deb Cox and Andrew Knight).

Ten's corporate communications manager, Margaret Fearn, agreed yesterday that Crash Burn's audience had dropped. "With the focus on relationships, the beginning might have been a little too confrontational, a little too close to home for some people," she said.

"But it becomes progressively more engaging as you get to know the characters. The writing is brilliant and there are some hysterical moments coming up."

Seven also announced yesterday it would not to buy the US-produced make-over show Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

The network had been negotiating with the producers of the show, which features five gay fashion experts making over heterosexual slobs.

The show set ratings records for US cable channel Bravo, but Seven decided the asking price was too high, especially as it already has the rights to a BBC make-over show, What Not to Wear.